Unison USB
 

I've been listening to the new Unison USB card for 4 days. I've been running digits through it the entire time, even when I'm not listening. Here are my impressions:

On installation, Win10 recognized the interface immediately and downloaded the correct driver:
Schiit Yggdrasil Unison USB (WASAPI)

It also loaded a direct sound driver which I have not tried.
Schiit Yggdrasil Unison USB (Direct Sound)

No fiddling about - it just worked and on next startup all the Gen 5 drivers disappeared. Nice.

Also I had not turned on the unit yet when all this driver goodness went down, so the server powers at least part of the USB interface. The Unison card has a number of isolation transformers and circuits on it for true galvanic isolation.

I used a WW Platinum Starlight V7 USB cable for most of the testing. My server is a SurfacePro3 i7 running JRiver 25 and optimized for audio. I run it on battery to keep some of the AC crud out.

The first thing I noticed is that the lock-up time is very fast. I use a set of standard tunes of various bit depths and sampling rates and the new card switches resolutions very quickly.

I used the following tunes for my audition. I listened to a lot of other music as well but this is a representative sample.

Camille Saint-Saens Symphony No. 3 in C minor, Op. 76 Telarc CD-80051
The Art of the Balalaika Nonesuch CD
Jennifer Warnes Famous Blue Raincoat CD
Allman Brothers Live at the Fillmore East SACD
Beck Sea Change 24/192

All the 44.1 kHz stuff was upsampled and interpolated 4x because that's where I find the Yggy shines. The DSD files were converted to 176 kHz 24 bit PCM by JRiver because the Yggy doesn't do DSD.

So what's the Unison USB like? It is not a night and day change. It keeps the overall sonic signature of the Yggy, which is a very good thing. It is just a bit better and clearer with improved pace and rhythm. Very smooth, with more definition and better hall ambiance retrieval.

It is like going from a cheapo USB cable to a really nice one like the WW Platinum Starlight.

I did try a cheapo USB cable out of the parts drawer and everything collapsed so if you are thinking of this card as a replacement for a great cable think again.

For the DIY install price of $150 and 30 minutes of my time, this upgrade was well worth it.

Highly recommended if you are using a USB interface with your Schiit Yggy.

Tom

Thanks Tom. I appreciate the time to articulate your thoughts on the upgrade.

Hi all!
I'm new to the Schiit family with the purchase of the Bifrost 2. I have a Sonore microRendu going to the Bifrost. All I cam says is how excellent this sounds for the money. I'm really impressed with the Unison USB implementation. I recently has for a very short time a new DAC with XMOS USB. I couldn't get either the rendu nor a ALLO usbridge to work with it and was told by the DAC manufacturer that wasn't his fault... Even my PS Audion PWD mk2 had periodic issues with the USB interface. Not the Schiit, working great from day one.

eis01... Welcome to AA! :wave:

Hi eis01,
Yes, I had the microRendu for 3 years and was very impressed with its performance and audio quality. It punches way above what its size and price would lead one to believe.

I've been using Schiit Audio products for about 8 or 9 years now, and have been very happy with their performance and quality for the price. Their performance per dollar is, on the whole, multiples of their price, yet they are sometimes not given consideration because, ironically, they are not expensive enough. Welcome to the Schiit family.

Taking it through its paces on my Yggy after 72 hours of burn in this evening! It was kind of muffled out of the box Tuesday, but the Yggy had cooled down which may have been part of that. No issues for the Innuos streamer upstream.

Hearing same stuff reported. Has a little more bottom, or maybe the bottom is cleaner. Everything a bit clearer so you can hear a little bit deeper. I may be chasing better timing adding some smoothness, but that will take a while to form an opinion.

I’m using a shunyata alpha usb cable also— that move was probably more significant. But this cost less, and a sigma cable is too far off for me. Ya the cable difference makes no sense to me, but my ears don’t care what my logic thinks.

That was a Schiitload of screws. Best recommendation was position them on painters tape. No way I’ll A/B this change.

Worthwhile.

Awesome. Thanks for the update.

Thank you both for the warm welcome!

Strike “bit”. Yes better timing.

Listening to the same playlist as last weekend all day, and, this inexpensive upgrade is a must do now. Thank you Schiit.

Here are some of my thoughts regarding the Schiit Bifrost 2 via usb. It has taken a full month to become familiar with the DAC and for it to fully settle in my system. My last DAC was a PS Audio PWD mkII.

I was unable to a side by side comparison unfortunately. However the Bifrost has brought a more enjoyable musical experience to me in my system. The PWD was probably a little more revealing, and definitely has more features (that I never used). As I stated before, I've not had a single driver issue or glitch attributed to the Bifrost. The Bifrost is absolutely communicating a vivid musical picture in my room no matter the source i.e. NAS (flac files LMS) or Spotify Connect or my current favorite Hirschmilch Radio Chillout.